Belgian developers InControl and Otary has reached agreement with government ministers over offshore wind supports, clearing the way for construction of a trio of projects totalling 770MW.
The wind farms will receive €79 per megawatt-hour for roughly 16 years, said the government, saving some €3.9bn over the lifetime of the wind projects when compared with current offshore construction projects.
Some government ministers earlier this year threatened to cancel the offshore licences completely if a compromise was not struck on price supports, as first reported exclusively in subscriber-only newsletter reNEWS.
Negotiations to lower previous government support commitments have been ongoing since that time.
InControl said it is now preparing to accelerate development activities on the 224MW Northwester 2 wind farm ahead of financial close in 2018 and operations before the end of 2020.
Otary has also reached a deal with the Belgian government for its 300MW Mermaid and 246MW Seastar offshore wind farms, which are expected to be built on similar timelines.
Partners at Northwester 2 also include TTR, Wagram and Colruyt. Otary shareholders include SRIW, Wallonia Offshore Wind, Socofe, Rent-A-Port Energy, Power@Sea, Aspiravi Offshore II, Elicio, Deme and Deme Concessions Wind and Z-Kracht.
Image: Pixabay
Belgians break offshore stalemate
Wind farm trio cleared to build by 2020 following €79/MWh compromise
By EBS